Sports briefs

Paralympics open with party

The 11th Paralympics opened Wednesday with a party that picked up where the Sydney Games ended 17 days earlier, with governor general William Deane declaring the Games open and swimmer Tracey Cross reading the oath.

About 4,000 athletes from 121 nations walked or rolled their wheelchairs onto the track at Stadium Australia.

Competition in five of the 18 sports starts today.

Top seeds win at Bardmoor

The second day of play at the Bardmoor Tennis Challenger in Largo held according to seeds, but it took three sets for No. 1 Jana Nejedly of Canada to defeat Liezel Horn of Russia 6-2, 4-6, 6-2. Nejedly, No. 68 in the world, took 1 hour, 49 minutes to oust unranked Horn Wednesday.

The other three area players, Sunitha Rao and Sandra Cacic of Bradenton and Lori Grey of Seminole, lost their opening matches in the $50,000 event at the Bardmoor Golf & Tennis Club.

Samantha Reeves of Miami, who defeated qualifier Ryoko Takemura of Japan 6-0, 6-1, became the only Floridian to reach the second round. All seeded players, except No. 7 Dawn Buth, advanced to the second round.

BOWLING: Clara Guerrero led after the third round of qualifying at the AMF Bowling World Cup, with a 24-game pinfall of 5,332. She was 40 pins ahead of second-round leader Ann-Maree Putney. Tore Torgersen took the men's lead with a 16-game total of 3,691 pins. ... Ray Johnson posted an 18-game pinfall of 4,415 and held the lead after two rounds of qualifying at the PBA Senior Tour's Hammond (Ind.) Open.

COLLEGES: The Tampa women's soccer team defeated host Rollins 9-7. Five Spartans scored: Tai Kirklin, Traci Blizzard and Melanie Moody two each and one from Emma Carlsson and Sara Butterworth.

CRICKET: The International Cricket Council drafted a declaration to be signed by everyone in the international game about whether they were involved in match-fixing.

CYCLING: Anna Wilson set a record of 43.501 kilometers in a one-hour circuit of a new velodrome in Melbourne, Australia, with a 250-meter track. The 1978 mark was 43.082 set by Cornella Van Oosten-Hage.

HIGH SCHOOLS: David Zimmerman, 33, a former basketball coach at Vincentian Academy, could receive up to 18 months in prison after pleading guilty in federal court to possessing child pornography. A search of his Pittsburgh home in March turned up about 10 images of child pornography, assistant U.S. Attorney Mary Beth Buchanan said.

HORSES: A record field of 156 trotters and pacers was entered for the $3.7-million Breeders Crown divisional championships Oct. 27 at Mohawk Raceway in Campbellsville, Ontario. Among entries are Hambletonian champion Yankee Paco and Credit Winner, Meadowlands Pace champion Gallo Blue Chip and Astreos, winner of the Little Brown Jug. Nineteen elimination races are scheduled in eight divisions for 2- and 3-year-old trotters and pacers. ... A judge in London ruled that prosecutors in a 31/2-year investigation failed to prove five defendants were part of a conspiracy to defraud bookmakers and gamblers by drugging race horses. The investigation followed the doping of two favorites in 1997. ... White Beauty rallied to win the $77,750 Bryan Station Stakes at Keeneland. Favored Pratella, seeking consecutive Bryan Station wins, finished second, 21/2 lengths in front of Solar Bound ... Go and Go, winner of the 1990 Belmont Stakes, was euthanized after fracturing his pelvis in a paddock accident at Waldorf Farms in Chatham, N.Y.

MARATHON: Tegla Loroupe, who set the women's record at 2:20:43 in September 1999 in Berlin, has entered the Nov. 5 New York City Marathon, which she won in 1994 and 1995.

SOCCER: Manchester United moved atop Group G of the European Champions Cup by beating PSV Eindhoven 3-1, and Bayern Munich did the same in Group F with a 2-0 victory over Paris Saint-Germain. ... Former World Footballer of the Year George Weah joined French club Marseille two days after leaving England's Manchester City.

MEMORIAL: A memorial service was held in Fair Grove, Mo., for NASCAR Trucks driver Tony Roper, 35, who died Saturday in a crash in Fort Worth, Texas.